Gov. Cuomo acknowledged his tough quarantine policy for health-care workers returning from West Africa was somewhat toothless and possibly unenforceable.
“Could you have a hostile person who doesn’t want to be quarantined?” the governor asked Saturday during a campaign swing through Queens. “I suppose you could. But that hasn’t been the case yet.”
The governor said officials had never considered whether people refusing to go along with the order could face prosecution or arrest.
“It’s nothing that we’ve discussed, no,” he said.
Pressed on where the passengers would spend their 21-day quarantine, Cuomo made it sound almost voluntary.
“Some people could be quarantined in a hospital if they wanted to be,” he suggested.
On Friday, Cuomo and his New Jersey counterpart, Gov. Chris Christie, announced that arriving air passengers who had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa would be quarantined for three full weeks.
The new measures were more rigorous than the current federal standards, and were announced one day after Dr. Craig Spencer — a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders — tested positive.
Sophie Delaunay, executive director of Doctors Without Borders, griped Saturday about the “notable lack of clarity” in the new policies. Illinois issued a mandatory quarantine as well.
“We are attempting to clarify the details of the protocols with each state’s department of health to gain a full understanding of their requirements and implications,” she said.
Officials in New Jersey and Illinois did not return calls for clarification on their policies. The 21-day period was designed to keep potentially-infected people isolated for the disease’s incubation period.
While Cuomo fielded questions, Mayor de Blasio scarfed down meatballs with his wife and Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett at The Meatball Shop in Greenwich Village.
The restaurant was briefly closed after Ebola-infected Dr. Spencer visited for about 40 minutes on Tuesday, days after returning home from Guinea.
Owner Daniel Holzman said the line was out the door Friday night when the doors reopened, and the place was busy when the mayor’s party of three arrived.
De Blasio ordered a root beer to go with an order of three meatballs: Chicken with spicy tomato sauce, pork with mushroom sauce and a veggie with pesto sauce.
The mayor — who one day earlier rode the subway to calm paranoid straphangers — said his light lunch was just another sign that it was business as usual in the city.
“This is a city that does not fall into a pattern of looking at fears,” he said afterward. “Everyone is going about their business as normal.”
A somewhat evasive de Blasio answered a few pointed queries about Cuomo’s Friday announcement about the new quarantine rules.
The mayor confirmed that the governor gave him no heads-up before announcing the new policy at Kennedy and Newark airports.
“We have to understand that in a fast-moving situation, sometimes there will be moments where the communication is not everything we want it to be,” the mayor said.
De Blasio also acknowledged the quarantine plan was hardly etched in stone.
“This is an evolving situation,” he said. “The governor made clear that there is inherent flexibility built into the approach.”
He did receive a hearty vote of confidence from meatball maven Holzman before leaving.
“I’m not blowing smoke, but the city has done an amazing job,” the owner said. “It means so much.”
“Thank you, man, thank you,” said de Blasio.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams made a Saturday stop at Gutter, the Williamsburg bowling alley where Spencer popped in on Wednesday before falling ill on Thursday.
His game looked a little sickly: Adams took out just three pins with his first ball. The politician then shot some pool and sipped some water before heading out.
“Whether you’re a barber, a baker or a candlestick maker, we have a safe place to bowl in Brooklyn,” Adams said.
Later Saturday, NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan was among a rollicking crowd of revelers who were packed into the Brooklyn hot spot.
“I just wanted to make the point that it’s safe, and people should not let worries about Ebola drag down the economy,” Kiernan told the Daily News.
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